Receptacles

ABSTRACT

A receptacle which may be used for different purposes such as an ashtray or as a coaster on which a glass, which contains a beverage, for example, may be placed. The receptacle has an inner glass dish which is provided with an endless sidewall extending upwardly from and surrounding its bottom wall and terminating at its top end in an outwardly directed peripheral flange. This inner dish is surrounded by an outer ring which has an inner peripheral flange extending beneath and overlapping the outer flange of the inner dish. In this way the receptacle is made of a pair of components which will have a minimum possibility of distortion when these components are molded using glass for the receptacle and plastic for the outer ring.

United States Patent Primary ExaminerDonald F. Norton AttorneyBlum,Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan ABSTRACT: A receptacle which may be usedfor different purposes such as an ashtray or as a coaster on which aglass, which contains a beverage, for example, may be placed. Thereceptacle has an inner glass dish which is provided with an endlesssidewall extending upwardly from and surrounding its bottom wall andterminating at its top end in an outwardly directed peripheral flange.This inner dish is surrounded by an outer ring which has an innerperipheral flange extending beneath and overlapping the outer flange ofthe inner dish. In this way the receptacle is made of a pair ofcomponents which will have a minimum possibility of distortion whenthese components are molded using glass for the receptacle and plasticfor the outer ring.

RECEP'IACLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesto receptacles.

In particular, the present invention relates to receptacles in the formof relatively shallow dished structures capable of being used for manydifferent purposes. Thus, such structures may be used as ash trays, orthey may be used as coasters for beverage-containing glasses.

It has been customary to mold such receptacles from glass, and with thepresently known molding techniques a relatively large number of suchglass receptacles, which are conventionally molded in one piece, becomeunavoidably distorted while cooling. Of course, such distorted piecesmust be rejected, so that the cost of manufacture of such receptacles isundesirably high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of theinvention to provide a receptacle of the above type which will avoid theabove drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a receptacleconstruction which will very greatly reduce the possibility ofdistortion during setting of the glass which forms only the receptacleand is not of complex cross section so that the number of rejects isvery greatly reduced with the structure of the invention.

At the same time, it is an object of the invention to keep the structureof the receptacle quite simple so that it can be inexpensivelymanufactured.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a receptacle ofthe above general type which lends itself to combination with coveringsof silver or the like, which may be used for protective and decorativepurposes.

According to the invention, the receptacle includes an inner dish havinga bottom wall surrounded by a sidewall, which latter extends upwardlyfrom the bottom wall. This sidewall is provided at its upper region withan outwardly directed peripheral flange. The receptacle further includesan outer ring which is separate from and surrounds the inner dish andwhich has an inner peripheral flange overlapping and extending beneaththe outer peripheral flange of the inner dish. As a result of making thereceptacle from a pair of components, namely the dish and ring referredto above, these separate components have practically no tendency tobecome distorted during cooling and solidification. They are separatelymolded, the dish of glassand the ring of plastic, with each componenthaving a cross Zection which is relatively simple as compared to thecross section of a one-piece receptacle of a corresponding totalconfiguration, so that in this way the possibility of distortion issubstantially eliminated. At the same time the outer plastic ring lendsitself to being covered with a suitable protective as well as decorativecovering sheet or like element which can be separately applied to thering with the dish itself being separately formed and easily assembledwith the ring, as by being deposited in the space which is surrounded bythe ring with its flange resting on the inner peripheral flange of thering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention illustrated by way ofexample in the accompanying drawings which form part of this applicationand in which:

FIG. I is an exploded perspective illustration of an embodiment of areceptacle according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the receptacle of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a transverse fragmentary section, on an enlarged scale ascompared to FIG. 2, taken along line 3-3 FIG. 2 in the direction of thearrows and showing the details of the structure at the place where thedish and the ring coact.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, thereceptacle 10 of the present invention includes an inner glass dish 12and an outer plastic ring 14. These components 12 and 14 are separatelyillustrated in FIG. 1.

The inner dish 12 has a bottom wall 16 surrounded by and integral with asidewall 18 which extends upwardly from the bottom wall. This sidewall18 terminates at its upper end in an outwardly directed peripheralflange 20, as shown most clearly in FIG. 3.

The glass dish 12 may be molded in any well-known manner. Because of therelatively simple configuration of the dish 12, it will have practicallyno tendency to become distorted during solidification and setting.

The plastic ring 14 surrounds the dish 12 and has an inner peripheralflange 22 extending beneath and overlapping the outer flange 20 of thedish 12. Thus, the ring 14 surrounds a space into which the dish 12 maybe deposited with the flange 20 overlapping the flange 22. Through thissimple expedient it is possible to assemble the components 12 and 14which form the receptacle 10.

It will be noted that the flange 22 has the configuration of a cylindersurrounding the central vertical axis of the dish 12, this axis formingthe axis of the cylinder formed by the flange 22. This flange 22 hasaxially of the cylinder a length substantially greater than thethickness of the flange 22. Furthermore it will be noted that the dish12 has an exterior side surface 24 which tapers inwardly away from theflange 22 so as to have a slight clearance with the respect thereto, asindicated in FIG. 3.

The ring I4 is in the form of an annular channel having a downwardlydirected hollow interior limited at the inside by the flange 22 and atthe outside wall 26 which extends down approximately to the elevation ofthe bottom surface of the bottom wall 16 of the dish 12. Thus, this ring14 has an outer exterior surface extending beyond the outer flange 20 ofthe dish 12. This exterior surface of the ring 14 may be covered with asuitable ring-shaped fllm or sheet 28 which may be decorative and whichat the same time may be made of a protective metal such as silver. Forexample the covering 28 of silver is clinched into the ring so that inthis way the ring 14 is protected.

Since the ring 14 is separate from the dish 12 it is an exceedinglysimple matter to provide it with a protective and/or decorative medium28 which does not form a part of the dish 12.

Furthermore, because of the relatively simple cross-sectionalconfiguration of the components 12 and 14 they will have very little ifany tendency to become deformed during solidification and setting. Ifthere is any slight deformation it will easily be accommodated by theclearance between the flange 22 and the outer side surface 24. The innerdish 12 can at any time be removed from the space surrounded by the ring14 simply by being displaced upwardly out of this space. Furthermore,when the ring 14 is raised the dish 12 will be raised therewith.

It is to be noted that if the components 12 and 14 were integrallymolded to provide a one-piece construction for the receptacle 10, then arelatively large number of these pieces would become deformed duringsolidification and setting, so that under these conditions anundesirably large number of rejects would be encountered. In contrast,by making the receptacle 10 of the components 12 and 14 as describedabove this disadvantage is avoided with the added advantage of therelatively inexpensive structures of the components 12 and 14 and thepossibility of treating the latter independently of the dish I2, asproviding the ring 14 with the protective and decorative medium.

In addition, if it should happen that dish 12 breaks, it is a simplematter to replace it with another dish 12 without replacing the ring 14.Moreover, it is possible to have several sets of rings 14 and severalsets of dishes 12 of different colors,

for-example, enabling difl'erent combinations of rings 12 and 14 to beput togetheras desired.

This structure described above may be used as an ashtray and as asupport for a beverage-containing glass, in which case the receptacle ofthe invention would function as a coaster.

I claim:

I. A receptacle comprising an inner dish having a bottom wall, asidewall surrounding and extending upwardly from said bottom wall, andan upper peripheral flange extending from said sidewall outwardly beyondthe latter, an outer ring surrounding said dish, and having an innerperipheral flange overlapping and extending beneath'said outerperipheral flange of said dish, said ring having beyond said dish anexterior surface, and a covering carried by said ring at said exteriorsurface thereof, whereby said dish and ring of said receptacle can beseparately manufactured and assembled by placing said dish in thespacesuri'ounded by said ring.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said covering is a silversheet material.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein said sheet material isclinched into said ring.

4. A receptacle comprising an inner dish having a bottom wall, asidewall surrounding and extending upwardly from said bottom wall, andan upper peripheral flange extending from said sidewall outwardly beyondthe latter, and an outer ring surrounding said dish and having an innerperipheral flange overlapping and extending beneath said outerperipheral flange of said dish, said inner peripheral flange of saidring having the configuration of a cylinder surrounding a common axis ofsaid dish and ring and having an axial length substantially greater thanits thickness, said outer ring having the configuration of a hollowannular channel the interior of which is directed downwardly and limitedat its inner side by said inner peripheral flange of said ring, and saidring having an outer annular wall extending downwardly beyond said innerperipheral flange thereof to an elevation approximately the same as thatof the lower surface of said bottom wall of said dish, whereby said dishand ring of said receptacle can be separately manu-- factured andassembled by placing said dish in the space surrounded by said ring.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said ring has an innerperiphery of stepped cross section with said inner peripheral flange ofsaid ring having an upwardly directed surface situated at an elevationlower than the uppermost part of said ring at said inner peripherythereof, said ring having an inwardly directed annular surfacesurrounding and extending upwardly beyond said inner peripheral flange,and said dish having at its outer flange an outwardly directed exteriorsurface situated next to said inwardly directed surface of said ring.

6. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said dish and ring are made ofrespectively glass and plastic which deform to a minimum extent becauseof the separation of the receptacle into the components formed by saiddish and ring.

1. A receptacle comprising an inner dish having a bottom wall, asidewall surrounding and extending upwardly from said bottom wall, andan upper peripheral flange extending from said sidewall outwardly beyondthe latter, an outer ring surrounding said dish, and having an innerperipheral flange overlapping and extending beneath said outerperipheral flange of said dish, said ring having beyond said dish anexterior surface, and a covering carried by said ring at said exteriorsurface thereof, whereby said dish and ring of said receptacle can beseparately manufactured and assembled by placing said dish in the spacesurrounded by said ring.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein saidcovering is a silver sheet material.
 3. The combination of claim 2 andwherein said sheet material is clinched into said ring.
 4. A receptaclecomprising an inner dish having a bottom wall, a sidewall surroundingand extending upwardly from said bottom wall, and an upper peripheralflange extending from said sidewall outwardly beyond the latter, and anouter ring surrounding said dish and having an inner peripheral flangeoverlapping and extending beneath said outer peripheral flange of saiddish, said inner peripheral flange of said ring having the configurationof a cylinder surrounding a common axis of said dish and ring and havingan axial length substantially greater than its thickness, said outerring having the configuration of a hollow annular channel the interiorof which is directed downwardly and limited at its inner side by saidinner peripheral flange of said ring, and said ring having an outerannular wall extending downwardly beyond said inner peripheral flangethereof to an elevation approximately the same as that of the lowersurface of said bottom wall of said dish, whereby said dish and ring ofsaid receptacle can be separately manufactured and assembled by placingsaid dish in the space surrounded by said ring.
 5. The combination ofclaim 4 and wherein said ring has an inner periphery of stepped crosssection with said inner peripheral flange of said ring having anupwardly directed surface situated at an elevation lower than theuppermost part of said ring at said inner periphery thereof, said ringhaving an inwardly directed annular surface surrounding and extendingupwardly beyond said inner peripheral flange, and said dish having atits outer flange an outwardly directed exterior surface situated next tosaid inwardly directed surface of said ring.
 6. The combination of claim4 and wherein said dish and ring are made of respectively glass andplastic which deform to a minimum extent because of the separation ofthe receptacle into the components formed by said dish and ring.